Comments on: OLPC did sell out, folks

By: Tank

Tank — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 23:50:02 +0000

I’ve sent OLPC $$ because I supported the vision of getting these open source machines into the hands of kids. Now I’m just pissed off that they’ve sold the whole thing down the river. MS even said the MS machines will not be dual boot.

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:53:44 +0000

Sad! I, too, am glad that I didn’t participate in the ‘give one get one’ program, even though it seemed like a good idea.

Thanks for updating me on this! I’ve lost track of the news lately.

By: ubuntucat

ubuntucat — Wed, 21 May 2008 03:46:21 +0000

I don’t really know much about the more hard-core versions. I’ve never tried Slackware, Gentoo, FreeBSD, etc. Even Arch and GoboLinux look too intimidating to me.

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 21 May 2008 03:36:41 +0000

While this is an excellent post and I agree completely, I have an off-topic request to make; given your insightful posts into the world of Linux (especially Ubuntu) what do you think of the more ‘hard-core’ versions? I’m considering taking a plunge in deep, cold dark water and installing FreeBSD and I’m wondering where somebody who knows far more than I about open source would place it on the continuum between ‘free-er’ or ‘more work’.

By: ubuntucat

ubuntucat — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:45:31 +0000

I think your guess isn’t too far off the truth, Alan, but I don’t see how that precludes OLPC selling out. Yes, they’re in a tough spot right now and may feel a strong push to compromise, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t compromising.

As a matter of fact, people rarely compromise / sell out unless there is a strong push for them to do so (coercion, bribery, etc.).

By: Alan

Alan — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:09:08 +0000

My guess is MS brokered deals with ministry officials where, when OLPC went knocking on government doors, they got stonewalled. OLPC was finessed into a partnership with MS, as a prerequisite to doing business with those countries.

Why else would say, Nigeria, commit to a million laptops from OLPC and then reverse the decision with lame excuses? And the education minister, Dr. Igwe Aja-Nwachuku, told a reporter he needed to compare OLPC’s laptop with MS’s stuff? (Reference: “Politics ‘stifling $100 laptop’” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7094695.stm)

Kinda silly when one considers that OLPC already had a product in hand, and MS had neither the product nor the technology in hand. Also, is Nigeria’s minister so naive as to believe that MS’s involvement would render a better price for the laptop? Unlikely.

The spin doctors got to work and what the public now hears is the announcement that OLPC is partnering with MS. Predictable reaction from a select minority: OLPC sold out!

Conspiracy theory? Nope, just business and politics, as usual. Its truly sad for OLPC and all the wonderful people who worked so hard, but the choice was either do the deal with MS or get pushed to the sidelines.

By: ubuntucat

ubuntucat — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:27:48 +0000

Right now it sounds as if they’re going for a dual-boot, but who knows if that’s really going to happen. Given all the compromises they’ve made so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if they took the Linux one off if that was the condition that Microsoft and/or some fearful-of-change governments mind slip into the purchase terms.

By: mc

mc — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:23:28 +0000

So, I wasn’t following the news, are they giving governments the option to use windows, or are they ditching linux completely?